SENIOR BRITISH OPEN Watson credits caddie for helping gain win after Mason's collapse

Bruce Edwards, stricken with Lou Gehrig's disease, missed the tournament.
TURNBERRY, Scotland (AP) -- Some help from a sick friend helped Tom Watson overcome Carl Mason at the Senior British Open.
Watson said longtime caddie Bruce Edwards, who has been diagnosed with Lou Gehrig's disease and couldn't make the trip, was at Turnberry in spirit.
"It's almost destiny that that happened. Bruce was with me today," Watson said. "You don't pull for a guy to make a mistake, but he had something to do with Carl's demise at the 18th."
After Watson bogeyed the final hole for a 64 and a record low 17-under total of 263, Mason -- little more than a journeyman on the regular European Tour with two victories in 30 years -- stood on the 18th tee at 19 under with a major waiting to be collected.
He drove into a fairway bunker, was forced to chip out sideways and fired the ball into the crowd. Finally, he made the green in four and two-putted for double bogey six.
That meant a sudden death playoff with Watson, which the five-time British Open champion won at the second hole after another Mason collapse at No. 18.
"I'll speak to him tonight," Watson said of Edwards. "I take it he was probably watching [on TV]. He told me I was going to come over here and win this thing without him. I said, 'I'll do it for you, pal.' "
Going low
Watson and Mason, who carded a 67, had finished 17 under 263 in a championship of record-breaking scores. Bob Charles' 14-year-old record of 11-under 269 on the same Turnberry links was beaten easily and by four players -- Watson, Mason, Bruce Summerhays and Tom Kite.
"This was like the Watson of old," the winner said. "Scrambling around, staying in the tournament and relying on my putter to see me through. I must have made 10 putts over 20 feet this week."
The result meant that Watson, who earned $255,731, finally won for the first time this season after four times taking home runners-up checks. He also ended his 0-5 record in playoffs as a senior and picked up his fifth Champions Tour victory.
He placed second at last month's U.S. Senior Open and tied for second in the Senior Players two weeks ago.
"After bogeying the last hole, I expected second place," said Watson, who was signing autographs when Mason was floundering at the last hole. "I said, 'This is getting tiresome, finishing second.' I didn't expect Carl to make the couple of mistakes at the last hole."
Mixed feelings
Mason, who bogeyed just one hole in his previous 67 until he went to the last, was happy with his biggest check but unhappy that he had been forced to play a shot from a badly raked bunker at 18.
"I'm pretty gutted," he said. "I'm proud of the way I played but, at the last, it was just one of those things."
He said he fired his tee shot into a bunker which hadn't been raked properly and his ball had landed in a depression.
"It was quite a depression and, just to the left of it, was a footprint so the bunker had not been raked properly," he said. "So I couldn't go forward. I did well to get it out sideways."
Summerhays carded a 65 to finish in third place with a 16 under total of 264 and Kite finished fourth at 14 under 266 after a 67.
Jack Nicklaus, who played the first 36 holes alongside Watson in what was billed as a repeat of their "duel in the sun" at the British Open on the same links 26 years ago, finished tied for 14th on 5-under 275 after a 1-over 71. His total included two 67s.
Watson beat Nicklaus by one stroke to win the 1977 Open. Now, he joins Charles as the only players to win both the Open and Senior British Open at the same venue.